Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Wednesday Wonderfuls #12

Well hello there blogosphere! I'm feeling a bit perky because I've been having a rather lovely day today. The sun came out, the skies were blue and it really did feel like Spring was finally sprunging! I got to wear a cute summer dress with peep toe wedges for the first time in months! Happy days :)

Anyway, all this nice weather (well one day, but hey, this is England, I'll take the sun where I can get it!) has got me dreaming about all the pretty floaty dresses one can wear in the Summer months and also the shoes. Now my store of Summer shoes is looking rather depleted at the moment as I threw away a lot of my old pumps and sandals in the great purge way back at the beginning of my make-not-buy project, so I think it's about time I invested in something new... :) Here are a few of my personal favourites at the moment:

Shoes make me sigh... But it's not just shoes that have caught my attention on the old interweb, here are some of my favourite blog posts of the week:

A favourite blog of mine at the moment is La Ville Inconnue. Carys has posted some cute photos of bits and pieces from her life. She also always has great outfit posts, check them out :)

Sunni of Cupcake Goddess posted a beautiful Modern Geisha Dress over at Sew Weekly, it's going to be perfect for the Summer!

Gertie of Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing has really left me spoilt for choice with her recent posts, so I'm just going to go ahead and link to three of them :) She has made a beautiful skirt for an upcoming TV appearance (how exciting!) and has also posted some tips on using horsehair braid to give your skirt hem some extra oomph. I'm also a bit addicted to Gertie's new feature "The Daily Dress", in which she posts pictures of fabulous people in fabulous outfits. This one features Dita Von Teese so it's already a hit feature in my book :)

Casey has made a beautiful spring blouse that has got me dreaming of projects made in swiss dot fabric. It just looks so lovely!

Finally, Portia wrote an interesting post over at her blog, about how sometimes it's better to sweat the small stuff. I know that personally when I ladder a pair of stockings or tights they end up straight in the bin, I would never even think of mending them, but there was a time when women would take much more care over such items, continually darning socks and mending nylons. Perhaps such time and care would make us appreciate what we have more, rather than letting ourselves indulge in the modern throw-away culture. It's an interesting thought...

I'm happy to report that both my "Party Dress Book" Dress and my Briar Rose Knit-Along are flying along, so expect posts on them very soon! Busy, busy, busy :)

3 comments:

I've been thinking about Portia's post since she wrote it. I do darn my handknit socks because there's just so much effort put into the making of them. I do wonder how participating in the making of items affects our perspective.

I know, I always take really good care of all my handmade clothes, but before I started making things I know I was a lot more flip about mending and things like that. I do think that what we do makes us appreciate the work that goes into clothes and therefore the work we should do for their upkeep. However, you could also say that in general modern garments have a lot less skill and care put into their construction, they are not made to last anymore so therefore we aren't surprised by their quick demise and we do nothing to slow it. With vintage clothes however, that you can see have stood the test of time, I would take hours repairing even the smallest tear. I suppose it's just a sign of changing times, but as you said it is something to think about!

About Me

Welcome to the world of "The Little Red Squirrel"! A year ago I gave up buying new clothes in favour of making my own or buying second hand. Join me as I continue in my adventures to build a handmade, home-sewn, vintage life.